1. Set up a Google+ hangout and connect with customers on a personal level.

"Google Hangouts are worth learning about and setting up. A Hangout offers you the ability to meet live with up to 9 people in a video and text chat environment, save the event and broadcast it to the world... or not. It's a great way to visit with customers and connect with them on a more personal level. Think about a bicycle repair shop demonstrating options for repair or replacement parts to a customer, instead of just trying to explain the problems and solutions in a phone call or email. How about a politician holding a personal group discussion with a few people and answering questions recorded on YouTube from many others? And suppose it was all saved and broadcast to millions? Pretty effective, isn't it?" - Gillian Muessig, Founding President, SEOMoz

2. Create personas for each social media platform.

"Create personas to help understand the audience on each social media platform. While this is a glittering generality, here's a lighthearted way to begin to think about the audiences on Google+ and Pinterest: men are from Google+; women are from Pinterest." - Gillian Muessig

3. Get to know your Fans and wow them.

"Just responding to comments on your fanpage is not enough. If you really want your active and engaged fans to become repeat buyers for life, you have to really know them and let them know you care. They need to feel like they are special. The last time I went to buy some wine, the seller looked at his computer and asked me "did you enjoy that Bordeaux you bought last week?" I was amazed, and wowed for good! These guys knew me and cared about my experience with them. You want to give that same impression to your fans. If they have posted something last week and come back to comment this week, you want to show them that you remember their previous post! To do that, you need some tools, Facebook won't be enough. But the WOW it will create will be worth the investment." - Emeric Ernoult, Founder, AgoraPulse

4. Learn about the OpenGraph.

"Building a fanbase on Facebook and publishing great content to get them engaged is good. But what is great is to build that Fanbase on your website, not only on Facebook! Very few people know that they can turn their entire website into a fan capturing machine. By displaying like buttons on their products' pages AND integrating simple OpenGraph meta data withing their HTML code, they can turn their visitors into actual fans and send them very targeted message through Facebook Newsfeed. This tactic just requires to learn a little bit about the Facebook OpenGraph concept. This is something you need to learn." - Emeric Ernoult

5. Set goals and measure them.

"If you really want to improve your social media presence, make sure you set goals and measure them. Don't just focus on measuring Likes, followers, and mentions. Those are important, to be sure, but with some effective tracking, you can tie your social media efforts back to your organization's main goals—sales, revenue, and customers." - Adam Proehl, Owner, NordicClick Interactive

6. Listen and respond.

"Many marketers use social media as a platform to promote their products. But you'll achieve far bigger wins if you take advantage of social media, and listen, respond, and be helpful WAY more than you promote yourself." - Adam Proehl

7. Tap in to the power of partner marketing.

"Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a small business, you can partner to increase the return on your social media marketing investment. One suggestion to raise the profile of your campaign is to co-brand with a partner. You can provide additional exposure for the partner brand while they lend their brand equity to your marketing. If you have a promotional tab on your Facebook page, for example, consider incorporating partners into the design and messaging. If you're running a contest or giveaway leverage partners to contribute prizing. Partners can provide access to prizes you might not otherwise be able to offer, both material and experiential." - Ben Pickering, CEO, Strutta

8. Don't fall victim to the Field of Dreams fallacy

“If you build it, they will come” may have worked for Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams but it is not a good mantra for running a social media promotion. You can't simply put an app up on your Facebook page and think it will "go viral." Running a successful social promotion requires a well thought out marketing plan that spans the life cycle of the campaign." - Ben Pickering

9. Consistently grow your audience.

"The best way to drive results on Facebook and Twitter is to not only engage with your audience, but consistently grow it as well. To grow your Facebook audience, run Facebook ads (CPCs can be as low as .80) and integrate Facebook with the rest of your digital initiatives. To grow your Twitter audience, find and follow Twitter users that are 1) in your target audience 2) good, potential advocates for your brand 3) industry influencers 4) potential social media partners. But don't just follow them and assume they will follow you back. Add them to a list, and interact with them. And whatever you do, DO NOT automate this. A bunch of fake followers with unhatched egg or stock photo avatars are not going to help drive business." - Megan Leap (Me!), Director of Content and Marketing, Online Marketing Institute

10. Stay current and participate frequently.

"Keep your organization's social media profiles up-to-date. A profile that is updated once a week (or worse, a few times a year) signals to your audience that your organization has nothing to say and may be struggling. For Facebook, it is a good best practice to update your page at least 2-3 times a day -- spaced apart every 1.5 - 3 hours. Since Twitter moves a lot faster than Facebook, your can participate as frequently as time allows." - Megan Leap

Join OMI July 12 - August 16 at our Social Media Intensive

Develop successful, high-performance social media marketing campaigns with our Intensive Program. In just 6 short weeks, you’ll learn how to successfully drive meaningful business results on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest as OMI’s lead instructors teach you the most effective tactics and best practices for social media marketing success. Learn More.